Brand of Sacrifice | Review and Interview | 2018

Greetings, everyone! I hope you are all having a fantastic day. Today, I have the band Brand of Sacrifice up for review with their recently released EP The Interstice. In addition to a review of the EP, I was also able to get in an interview which you will also be able to read and get a glimpse into the mind of Brand of Sacrifice. So let’s jump into this.

REVIEW

To start, we are going to go ahead and begin with the review, just so you can know what to expect from them musically and what not. To start the EP off, we get an introduction via the track Eclipse. Eclipse is a track not like anything I honestly have ever heard before. The track plays so well with the atmospheric presence of a choir, as well as some seemingly symphonic elements at times. This, as well of the addition of some guitar work that makes me just astonished, and empowering vocal work just meshes it all together, Eclipse is a wonderous way to start an EP and is honestly my favorite track.

Moving along, we come to the track Casca. Casca is a track that is very much more fast-paced than its previous predecessor, Eclipse. Casca also includes a lot more slam elements that really add some grit to the already intoxicating instrumental work. A great follow up to the first track for sure. This track, much like the prior one, just as well put together. Nothing really overpowers the other mechanisms in the song.

Now, the third track to approach, Conviction. Conviction plays a lot more with some black metal themes with a dash or two of slam/deathcore, which is nice, to say the least. This track, much like the others, is just fastpaced at times whilst switching up the timings and creating a real brutal and guttural noise that is appealing to the ears for sure.

Next, we have the fourth track, Millennium. Lord have mercy, this is like the band decided, let’s take out all the angst in our living being and throw them at you at with an intense amount of force. While, mind you, also adding some nice calming background elements to the track. A very great mix for sure, as we heard in Eclipse.

Finally, we reach the end of this 14 minute and 52 second EP. We are met with a rather enchanting instrumental, very cinematic and well composed, only to be lead into the craziest track I’ve heard on every spectrum. I thought Eclipse and Millennium were insane, and then this track decided to rear its incredible head into the picture. Crimson takes every aspect of every track on this EP and meshes it in a way that makes for a nice ending piece. The guitar work and prowess of the vocalist is phenomenal.

All in all, as for this EP and this band, I’m excited. This is exactly what should be explored more within the Deathcore community. Not just the basic chug and breakdown, but something special and unique. Something like makes me just baffled that this is not something that I’ve listened to before. The crazy part is that this is just a side project, as you’ll read in the interview. I really hope to hear more game changers, like Shadow of Intent, Spite, and now Brand of Sacrifice.

It’s time, the moment you may have been waiting for: the interview. Also, if you are interested, I will post links to the band’s Facebook, Spotify, merch, etc. Please, support these guys, they are doing amazing and hope to see them continue to do so.

INTERVIEW

How did you guys form?
Kyle came up with the idea of putting together a heavier band as a fun side project. We’re all in The Afterimage, which is a group that leans more toward a more accessible sound, so we wanted an outlet for the heavy stuff!

What is the theme for your band? Furthermore, does this theme play out into the lyrics?
Kyle bases a lot of the lyrical themes around “Berserk”, which is an anime he really likes. We draw a lot of our inspiration from that storyline.Are you, as a band, considering playing live shows? If so, do you have a date planned, or is that to be announced?
It’s definitely likely. We’re still in the planning stages and we have a few other big events to cover on the roadmap before we get to that point, but it’s coming!Listening to tracks like Eclipse, there’s definitely a lot going on. What musical inspiration did you draw ideas from?
To be honest.. musically, we kind of just do what comes out. There’s a lot of inspiring groups out there in the scene, but we just do our thing!Are you working on any other projects at the moment that can be disclosed?
We’re working on a new album and we have some other exciting announcements to make soon.Anything you would like to say to your fans? We are so overwhelmed by the crazy amount of support we received in such a short amount of time, thanks so much! Can’t wait to see where this road takes all of us!